Why the Men's Rights Movement Is Garbage

I need to take a moment here to talk about the Men's Rights Movement, because there seems to be some confusion. Actually, there seems to be a whole lot of confusion.

Over the past little while, I've had a number of people challenge me on calling out men's rights activists (hereafter referred to as MRAs). "But men are oppressed too," people say. "Feminism is sexist, and it teaches men that masculinity is wrong." "Straight, white men aren't allowed to be proud of themselves anymore." "If you believe in equality, then you should want men to have the same type of activism as women." "Everyone is entitled to their opinion."

First of all, yes, everyone is entitled to their opinion. But let's not pretend that all opinions are created equal -- some are based on fact, and some are total bullshit. Like, I could tell you that I believe that vaccines cause autism, and that would be my opinion, but it would also be demonstrably untrue. So let's not pretend that all opinions should be given the same consideration, because we both know better than that.

Second of all, let's get one thing straight: men, as a group, do not face systematic oppression because of their gender. Am I saying that literally no men out there are oppressed? No, I am for sure not saying that. Men can and do face oppression and marginalization for many reasons -- because of race, class, sexuality, poverty, to name a few. Am I saying that every white cishet dude out there has an amazing life because of all his amassed privilege? Nope, I'm not saying that either. There are many circumstances that might lead to someone living a difficult life. But men do not face oppression because they are men. Misandry is not actually a thing, and pretending that it's an oppressive force on par with or worse than misogyny is offensive, gross, and intellectually dishonest.

MRAs believe that feminists are to blame for basically everything that's wrong with their lives. The Men's Rights Movement is a reactionary movement created specifically to counter feminism, and most (if not all) of their time and resources go towards silencing and marginalizing women.

They do things like starting the Don't Be That Girl campaign, a campaign that accuses women of making false rape reports. They attend feminist events in order to bully and intimidate women, they flood online feminist spaces with threatening messages, and they regularly use smear campaigns and scare tactics to make the women who don't back down afraid for their physical safety. They do literally nothing to actually resolve the problems that they claim to care about, and instead do everything they can to discredit the feminist movement.

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Men's Rights Edmonton poster from the University of Alberta campus.

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Wonderbra's infamous advert.

Levis.

Saatchi and Saatchi's campaign for The Conservative Party ahead of the 1979 general election.

Durex.

Sisley fashion brand.

Sean John's Unforgivable Woman fragrance.

Linford Christie stars in Kleenex's tissue advert.

Lynx.

BMW.

BaF's anti-domestic violence ad.

Red Tape menswear fashion brand.

Controversial French anti-smoking advert,

MacDonald's.

QSOL service provider.

NSPCC

A German MacDonald's advert.

Heinz.

Cadbury's.

Miquita Oliver in Women's Aid advert.

Advert for Chicolate chocolate substitute.

Skin Burn, anti-smoking ad

Barnardo's.

Tipalet cigarette advert.

Benetton

TG4 television program entitled 'Paisean Faisean'.

Courage beer.

Budweiser.

Barcardi rum.

Amnesty International

Skyy alcoholic drink.

Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Anti binge-drinking advert

Van Heusen

BMW

Pitney-Bowes Postage Meter

Government anti-drug driving advert

Anti-abortion advert

Advert against verbal abuse

Fabrica

Benson & Hedges

American Apparel

Amnesty International

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An M&C Saatchi advert for St Matthew's in the City in Aukland, New Zealand.

Israel is still angry that the supermodel didn't serve in the army, and they are even more angry that she is in a tourism video for the country.

There are certainly issues that disproportionately affect men -- the suicide rate among men is higher, as is the rate of homelessness. Men are more likely to be injured or killed on the job or because of violence. Men who are the victims of domestic abuse or sexual assault are less likely to report these things. These are the issues that MRAs are purportedly working on, and by "working on" I mean "blaming feminism for."

The problem is that none of these things are caused by feminism, or equal rights for women, or anything like that. You know what's actually to blame for a lot of these issues? Marginalizing forces like class and race, for one thing. I mean, it's not rich white men who are grappling with homelessness or dangerous workplaces or gun violence. You know what else is to blame? Our patriarchal culture and its strictly enforced gender roles which, hey, happens to be exactly the same power structure that feminism is trying to take down.

The patriarchy has some fucked up ideas about masculinity, ideas that make men less likely to seek help for issues that they perceive to be too feminine -- such as being hurt or raped by a female partner, not being able to provide for themselves, or not seeking help for health issues like depression and anxiety.

On a societal level, it means that resources are not as readily available for men who face these challenges, because patriarchal ideas tell our courts, our governments and our charitable organizations that men don't ever need that kind of help. Yes, the patriarchy overwhelmingly privileges the interests of men, but it also hurts men. It hurts men in all the ways that MRAs are apparently so concerned about, which means that you would think that MRAs would be totally on board with dismantling the patriarchy, but they're not. Instead, they would rather blame women for their problems.

See, the problem with the Men's Rights Movement is that they are not doing anything concrete to resolve any of the above issues. They are not raising money to open shelters for homeless or abused men. They are not starting up suicide hotlines for men. They are not lobbying for safer workplaces or gun control.

Instead, they are crying about feminism, pooh-poohing the idea of patriarchy and generally making the world a sadder, scarier, less safe place to live in. In fact, I would argue that their stupid antics are actually a detriment to the causes that they claim to espouse, because they're creating an association between actual real issues that men face and their disgusting buffoonery. So good job, MRAs. Way to screw vulnerable men over in your quest to prove that feminism is evil. I hope you're all really proud of yourselves.

The Men's Rights Movement is not "feminism for men." It's not some kind of complimentary activism meant to help promote equal treatment of men and women. And it most certainly is not friendly towards women, unless we're talking about women with crippling cases of internalized misogyny.

I believe in equality for men and women, but I also believe that we're not born with an even playing field. Women still face disenfranchisement, discrimination and a lack of basic freedoms and rights, and although feminism has done a lot of great work over the last century or so, we still haven't undone several millennia's worth of social programming and oppression.

So that's why it's not "men's turn" to have a social justice movement. That's why we have the fem in feminism. That's why fairness and equality involve promoting the empowerment of women, rather than promoting the empowerment of both genders in equal amounts. Because, to use a stupid analogy here, if one person starts out with no apples and another person starts out with five apples and then you give them both three apples each in the name of fairness, one person still has five more apples.

So yes, let's talk about issues that affect men. Let's come up with solutions for problems that disproportionately hurt men, like suicide and homelessness and violent deaths (while at the same time recognizing that the fact that there are issues that affect more men than women does not mean that men are oppressed because of their gender). Let's work on opening up shelters for abused men, let's create campaigns bringing awareness to the fact that men are also the victims of rape, and let's pressure the government to improve workplace safety. But let's find a way to do this that's not at the expense of women. Instead, let's join together and fuck up the patriarchy real good, because that way everyone wins.

p.s. If you actually think that straight white men aren't encouraged to be "proud" of themselves you need to check your privilege a million times over and then check it some more because seriously.